Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the District Court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It was 160 miles long and generally corresponded to the Interstate 85 corridor. Id., at 56-58. Today, the Court recognizes a new cause of action under which a State's electoral redistricting plan that includes a configuration "so bizarre" that it "rationally cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to separate voters into different districts on the basis of race [without] sufficient justification" will be subjected to strict scrutiny. This question also need not be decided at this stage of the litigation. 808 F. They alleged that the General Assembly deliberately "create[d] two Congressional Districts in which a majority of black voters was concentrated arbitrarily--without regard to any other considerations, such as compactness, contiguousness, geographical boundaries, or political subdivisions" with the purpose "to create Congressional Districts along racial lines" and to assure the election of two black representatives to Congress. "The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society."Reynolds v. Sims[1964]. Justia makes no guarantees or warranties that the annotations are accurate or reflect the current state of law, and no annotation is intended to be, nor should it be construed as, legal advice. US attorney general rejected a North Carolina congressional reappointment plan because the plan created only one black majority district, 1. The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, surely, does not stand in the way. See Fed. the democratic ideal, it should find no footing here." 649-652. Politicians have always relied on assumptions that people in particular groups are likely to vote in a particular way when they draw new district lines, and I cannot believe that anything in today's opinion will stop them from doing so in the future. Dissenting Opinion (Harlan):. Racial classifications of any sort pose the risk of lasting harm to our society. Indeed, racial classifications receive close scrutiny even when they may be said to burden or benefit the races equally. In districting, by contrast, the mere placement of an individual in one district instead of another denies no one a right or benefit provided to others. Id., at 363. Shaw v. Hunt, 861 F. Supp. We express no view as to whether appellants successfully could have challenged such a district under the Fourteenth Amendment. To comply with 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965-which prohibits a covered jurisdiction from implementing changes in a "standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting" without federal authorizationNorth Carolina submitted to the Attorney General a congressional reapportionment plan with one majority-black district. But it did not purport to overrule Gomillion or Wright. 92-357. Cf. Even Members of the Court least inclined to approve of race-based remedial measures have acknowledged the significance of this factor. (Assume there is no difference between the pretax and aftertax accounts payable cost.). It is ironic that it does so when white voters challenge a law that would have North Carolina send a black representative to Congress for the first time since Reconstruction, here is no constitutional requirement of compactness or contiguity for districts. ); id., at 180, and n. (Stewart, J., joined by Powell, J., concurring in judgment).3. In particular, they have no bearing on whether the plan ultimately is found to violate the Constitution. upon an extraordinary justification. See Reynolds, 377 U. S., at 578 (recognizing these as legitimate state interests). Harry A. Blackmun Blackmun. This case involves two of the most complex and sensitive issues this Court has faced in recent years: the meaning of the constitutional "right" to vote, and the propriety of racebased state legislation designed to benefit members of historically disadvantaged racial minority groups. O. Gade & H. Stillwell, North Carolina: People and Environments 65-68 (1986). 1984); and, finally, the "concentration of [minority voters] into districts where they constitute an excessive majority," Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U. S. 30, 46, n. 11 (1986), also called "packing," Voinovich, supra, at 153. We have rejected such perceptions elsewhere as impermissible racial stereotypes. Thus, we express no view as to whether "the intentional creation of majority-minority districts, without more," always gives rise to an equal protection claim. 5 See Richmond v. J. For the following sentence, locate the action verb and underline it twice. See 478 U. S., at 131, n. 12 (plurality opinion). Following is the case brief for Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993) Case Summary of Shaw v. Reno: The State of North Carolina, in response to the U.S. Attorney General's objection that it had only one majority-black congressional district, created a second majority-black district. Why was Shaw v Reno an important decision in terms of minority representation? v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265, 304-305 (1978) (Powell, J.) With him on the briefs were Michael F. Easley, Attorney General of North Carolina, Edwin M. Speas, Jr., Senior, Deputy Attorney General, and Norma S. Harrell and Tiare B. Smiley, Special Deputy Attorneys General. 808 F. Final Vote: 5-4. NO racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts. This rule applies as well to a classification that is ostensibly neutral but is an obvious pretext for racial discrimination. to Juris. Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U. S. 735, 752, n. 18 (1973)-but because they are objective factors that may serve to defeat a claim that a district has been gerrymandered on racial lines. The message that such districting sends to elected representatives is equally pernicious. Syllabus ; View Case ; Appellant Shaw . As a result of the 1990 census, North Carolina gained one congressional seat, increasing its House membership to twelve and requiring the state legislature to redraw the state's congressional districts. I believe that the Equal Protection Clause is violated when the State creates the kind of uncouth district boundaries seen inKarcher v. Daggett(1983),Gomillion v. Lightfoot)(1960), and this case, for the sole purpose of making it more difficult for members of a minority group to win an election. It is approximately 160 miles long and, for much of its length, no wider than the 1-85 corridor. As we have held, one's constitutional rights are not violated merely because the candidate one supports loses the election or because a group (including a racial group) to which one belongs winds up with a representative from outside that group. Get Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), United States Supreme Court, case facts, key issues, and holdings and reasonings online today. See ante, at 661-663, 669-670.6. v. RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ET AL. of Oral Arg. Regents of Univ. Naomi buys $1,000 worth of American Express travelers checks and charges In other words, the purposeful creation of a majority-minority district could have discriminatory effect if it is achieved by means of "packing"-i. e., overconcentration of minority voters. Washington v. Davis, 426 U. S. 229, 239 (1976). The dissenters make two other arguments that cannot be reconciled with our precedents. See Wright v. Rockefeller, 211 F. Supp. In short, even assuming that racial (or political) factors were considered in the drawing of district boundaries, a showing of discriminatory effects is a "threshold requirement" in the absence of which there is no equal protection violation, id., at 143, and no need to "reach the question of the state interests served by the particular districts," id., at 142.4, To distinguish a claim that alleges that the redistricting scheme has discriminatory intent and effect from one that does not has nothing to do with dividing racial classifications between the "benign" and the malicious-an enterprise which, as the majority notes, the Court has treated with skepticism. Id., at 133 (emphasis added). Gomillion is consistent with this view. Ante, at 653. Earlier this Term, we unanimously reaffirmed that racial bloc voting and minority-group political cohesion never can be assumed, but specifically must be proved in each case in order to establish that a redistricting plan dilutes minority voting strength in violation of 2. 3 Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires a covered jurisdiction to demonstrate either to the Attorney General or to the District Court that each new districting plan "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race[,] color, or [membership in a language minority.]" To comply with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, North Carolina submitted a congressional reapportionment plan with one majority-black district to the U.S. Attorney General. Redistricters have to justify themselves. Not so, apparently, when the districting "segregates" by drawing odd-shaped lines.7 In that case, we are told, such proof no longer is needed. Gaffney, 412 U. S., at 752, n. 18; see ante, at 647. See, e. g., Rogers v. Lodge, 458 U. S. 613, 616-617 (1982); White v. Regester, 412 U. S. 755, 765-766 (1973). 42 U. S. C. 1973c; see also 1973b(f)(2). UJO's framework simply does not apply where, as here, a reapportionment plan is alleged to be so irrational on its face that it immediately offends principles of racial equality. Another of the weapons in the States' arsenal was the racial gerrymander-"the deliberate and arbitrary distortion of district boundaries for [racial] purposes." 92-357 . Pp. v. Bakke, supra, at 305 (opinion of Powell, J.). The North Carolina Republican Party and individual voters brought suit in Federal District Court, alleging that the plan constituted an unconstitutional political gerrymander under Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U. S. 109 (1986). Increased use of accounts payable financing: Because this financing is part of the companys ongoing daily business, it has no flotation costs, and the company assigns it a cost that is the same as the overall firm WACC. Despite their invocation of the ideal of a "color-blind" Constitution, see Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, 559 (1896) (Harlan, J., dissenting), appellants appear to concede that race-conscious redistricting is not always unconstitutional. "[L]ike bloc-voting by race, [the racial composition of geographic area] too is a fact of life, well known to those responsible for drawing electoral district lines. districts in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The Court offers no adequate justification for treating the narrow category of bizarrely shaped district claims differently from other districting claims. It is evident to me, however, that what North Carolina did was precisely tailored to meet the objection of the Attorney General to its prior plan. 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